USA

2012

On Wednesday, the same day the White
House announced a strategic plan committing the United States to elevating its efforts in "challenging leaders whose actions threaten the
credibility of democratic processes" in sub-Saharan Africa, a senior
member of the U.S. Congress challenged the
erosion of press freedom in a key U.S. strategic partner in the Horn of Africa:
Ethiopia.

On the frontlines of global reporting, knowledge is safety. CPJ's
event series to promote our new Journalist Security Guide continued Wednesday in Washington,
D.C. where we teamed up with Internews for
a panel discussion on journalist security on-site and online.

The last few weeks have offered the strongest indications
yet that nation-states are using customized software to exploit security flaws
on personal computers and consumer Internet services to spy on their users. The
countries suspected include the United States, Israel, and China. Journalists
should pay attention--not only because this is a growing story, but because if
anyone is a vulnerable target, it's reporters.

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The guidance is hardly clear. At a Columbia University event
last week pegged to the release of the new CPJ
Journalist Security Guide, one journalism student said he and his classmates
are getting contradictory advice. Many J-school professors, he said, have encouraged
him and others to just get up, go overseas, and try to make it as a freelancer.
But the experienced journalists speaking at the event advised caution.

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Governments and criminal organizations are stepping up
digital surveillance of journalists, but the press is not keeping pace in
meeting the challenge, a panel of experts said Wednesday at an event marking
the launch of the CPJ
Journalist Security Guide. Reporters are using unsecure consumer
electronic products for sensitive tasks such as note-taking and source management,
the experts said, without sufficiently assessing the risks.

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The battle over blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng's
freedom and well-being is a battle over information. Both Chinese and U.S.
officials are trying to spin the story their way. A few activists and media claim
to speak for Chen, and in China's anti-press environment they are putting
themselves at risk. Direct interviews with the man himself are hard to come by.

"High Tech, Low Life," a new documentary
about Chinese bloggers directed by Stephen Maing, debuted at the 2012 Tribeca
Film Festival in New York on April 19. It documents the lives of Zola (Zhou
Shuguang) and Tiger Temple (Zhang Shihe), as they blur the lines of citizen
journalism and activism though their reporting on evictions, pollution, and
official cover-ups in China. Zola was in town for the premiere, and he
and the director fielded questions from the audience after the film's showing.

After
the Salvadoran online newsmagazine El
Faro exposed a secret government deal with criminal gangs last month, its
staff faced repercussions that illustrate the new and complicated risks facing
journalists worldwide. El Faro'sreport, which said
the government provided more lenient treatment of imprisoned gangsters in
exchange for the groups' agreement to slow down their murderous practices,
addressed one of the most sensitive topics facing journalists today--crime and
its many interconnections with government.